What are isolates?

Terpenes 101

What are Terpenes

SIMPLY PUT:

Terpenes are the essential oils made by all plants. Terpenes are what give each flower, herb, fruit, and extract it’s own unique scent, flavor and effect.

Everyday, everywhere you go, you encounter terpenes, they make life exciting. When you zest a lemon..you smell terpenes. Open a jar full of herb…what you are smelling is the terpenes. Stop and smell the roses? More like stop and smell the terpenes.

While there is so much you CAN learn, what you NEED to know is that terpenes are scented molecules that when inhaled, applied to the skin, or consumed affect how we feel.

A BIT MORE COMPLEX:

Terpenes are the most basic essential oils produced in nature; in total over 30,000 have been identified. Plants, animals, microbes, and fungi produce terpenes to carry out necessary biological functions. This diverse class of compounds serve as vitamins, hormones, pheromones, and as part of the immune system.

One way to think of terpenes is as building blocks which come together to make complex essential oils, these building blocks are created by plants and combined in countless ways in order to produce full plant essential oils like Lavender, Rose, Sandalwood, Kush, Tangie, and Durban Poison.

Though scent is what they are known for, terpenes play an equally important role in influencing how we will feel when we consume an herb, fruit, or flower. This is because they act synergistically with other botanical compounds and our own native hormones – acting on the same neurons in the brain; this phenomenon is known as the entourage effect.

What are they used for?

SIMPLY PUT:

Terpenes can be added to herbs, extracts, and manufactured products before use in order to enhance the effect and improve the scent or flavor.

A BIT MORE COMPLEX:

While nature has its own uses for them, humans have found many diverse applications for terpenes; both in isolation and as part of complex blends. It might surprise you to know that terpenes are used in the development of food flavorings, incense, cosmetic products, organic gardening products, household cleaners, natural medicines, and perfumes.

In the past few years, product manufacturers have used isolated terpenes in order to reverse engineer the terpene profile of popular herbs; this blend is then introduced to a formulation in order to mimic the scent, flavor.

Terpene Profile: all of the terpenes present in an analyzed sample

How do I use them?

A little at a time – Terpenes can be added to aromatherapy blends, diffusers, lotions, edibles, tinctures, cocktails, homemade cleaners, bug repellents, plant extracts, and generally used as you might an essential oil.

Terpenes are POTENT and should never be consumed, inhaled, or applied to the skin before being diluted. Be sure to consult their SDS before working with isolated terpenes.

Certain terpenes are more potent than others and they must be handled with care. When using isolated terpenes be sure to use the appropriate skin protection, eye protection and operate in a well ventilated area.

In most cases you will want to stay within 1-5% concentration by volume but can vary depending on the isolated terpene, blend, person, and desired effects.

Where do your terpenes come from?

Our terpenes are derived from many different, all natural sources. There are over 30,000 terpenes in nature and they are not unique to only one species of plant.

For example, alpha pinene is the most prevalent terpene and can be found in thousands of different plants. The molecules themselves are identical no matter what plant they come from. Some people argue about the importance of the source of the terpenes but once the molecules are isolated, there is virtually no difference.

High purity warning labels

There are extensive warning labels on our products because they can be dangerous at high purities. Each terpene has different properties and needs to be handled accordingly. With the proper dilution, our terpenes can be used in many different applications. A similar example is nicotine. Nicotine at high concentrations can be fatal but once diluted, it can be used in many ways (inhaled, sublingual, etc). We simply ask that you respect the high purity compounds and handle them in accordance with their SDS.

How should I dilute them?

Terpenes mix well with other plant extracts, concentrates and oils. You can also dilute them with coconut oil, most carrier oils, PG, PEG. Terpenes will homogenize with agitation and can be sped up by applying low heat. They are not water soluble so they must be diluted with other oils unless you use an emulsifying agent such as sunflower lecithin.

Terpenes are POTENT and should never be consumed, inhaled, or applied to the skin before being diluted. Be sure to consult the SDS before working with isolated terpenes.